Technical Difficulty
by Ms Musician
Summary: Joe attempts to put together a computer.


Here's a random story I wrote a while ago. Enjoy!

* * *

Computers. One of the most popular items to teenagers. Computers and Internet. And you would think that any _normal_ teenager would know how to use one. But for Joe Hardy, it was very difficult.

With his reputation of solving cases and tracking down the most difficult criminals, one would think he would be able to hook up a computer. But he couldn't.

Joe stared at the tangle of cords in front of him. There were so many of them...and all of them had to go in one certain spot. You couldn't just plug them in wherever. No, that would be way too easy. They had to go in a certain spot. He looked at the instructions, then back at the cords on the floor, then at the instructions once again. Impossible. It was impossible for him to put this…this _machine_ together and get it working correctly.

"Have you gotten it figured out yet?" Joe heard someone ask. He turned and found his brother, Frank Hardy, standing in the doorway with a smirk on his face.

"I don't see why you can't help me," Joe said.

"Because, little brother, it's a computer. And if you don't know how to put a computer together by now, you've got some serious issues."

"That's not true," Joe said, picking up a cord. "Not knowing how to hook up a computer does not mean that you have issues. It means you don't know how to hook up a computer."

"That didn't make sense," Frank said, "but whatever. Good luck with that."

Joe rolled his eyes as Frank left the room. Weren't brothers supposed to help each other out? He looked at the cord in his hand, then looked at the large object in front of him. What had they called that? Oh, a tower. The tower that everything plugged in to. The thing with so many places for so many different things. Joe poked it in the first empty spot that he found. Didn't fit. He put it in the spot next to it. Still didn't fit.

This is hopeless, Joe thought. He picked up another wire. So many wires, so many holes to go in. But wait. He knew where this one went. Or so he thought. He started to plug the wire into the outlet. Suddenly, someone said, "Joe, no!"

But it was too late. Suddenly, Joe jerked his hand back as he was shocked from the outlet.

"That's the bad outlet," he heard Frank say. "Remember?"

Joe sat back. "I think we are having technical difficulty," he said.

"More like _user _difficulty," Frank said. The smirk was on his face again as he tried not to laugh at his brother's disability. He sighed. "Watch a professional at work," he said, nudging Joe.

Joe moved over and watched his brother. Frank picked up a single wire out of the tangle of wires on the floor. He examined the back of the 'tower', just as Joe had done earlier. He then plugged the wire into an empty 'spot', as Joe liked to call it. It fit.

"How did you _do_ that?" Joe asked.

"It's called following directions," Frank replied.

For the next twenty minutes, Frank put together the computer piece by piece, cord by cord. Joe watched his brother in amazement. How did he _do_ that, anyway? In twenty minutes, Frank had managed to do something that would have taken Joe hours to do.

"And now," Frank said, holding the very last wire, "for the last thing of all." Frank began to plug the cord into another outlet. Joe said, "Frank, wait—!"

But it was too late. Just as Joe had done, Frank yanked his hand back suddenly as he, too, was shocked.

"That hurt," Frank said. "Really, really bad."

"I see you forgot that every single outlet in my room is messed up," Joe said with a smirk.

"Yes, I did. At least the power didn't go out."

Suddenly the lights flickered once. Then again. Then, everything went dark.

The boys were silent for a moment. Finally, Frank spoke up. "Well, back to where we started. Until the power people come out _again,_ we'll have to work in the dark." The two boys stood up. Joe reached for the plug that had caused all of the trouble. He was once again shocked.

"Hey, Frank?"

"Yeah Joe?"

"I think we're having technical difficulty."


End file.
